


All I Want For Christmas

by alittlewicked



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bets & Wagers, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), completely self-indulgent fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlewicked/pseuds/alittlewicked
Summary: "Even if I may be a bit forward in my affections towards Anthony, that is nothing in comparison to how you thirst after Thor in his Quidditch uniform! Now that's just plain embarrassing!" Stephen sniffed haughtily.☆An advent calender fic where Stephen lets himself get caught up in one of Loki's schemes but can't bring himself to be sorry.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Loki/Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 32
Kudos: 82





	1. Stephen

**Author's Note:**

> Christmas. Hogwarts. Loki being a little shit.
> 
> My tastes are simple :D!

Loki was his oldest friend. He wasn't necessarily what most people would classically call a best friend. But how do you even measure if someone was good or bad or even the best at being a friend? So Loki was Stephen's oldest friend, 17 years and counting, and with that - at least to him - his best friend. 

Loki Laufeyson was the one who was by his side when he showcased his first bouts of magic and who crossed his fingers during the Sorting Ceremony for them to end up in the same House. He could keep up with Stephen's wit and challenged him at each turn he took. Since day one, the two of them inspired the other to greatness. And to Stephen, that was a feat a best friend should be able to do.

One of Stephen's first conscious memories was of Loki as well. They had to have been four or five years old, suffering through what their absent mothers called a playdate and their nurses dreaded as another medium sized war. He was fuzzy on the details but it had all started with the tiny Laufeyson heir daunting Stephen one way or the other. 

Something about how his nanny was only tending to him because she was forced to and Stephen was yucky anyway. And then Stephen had thrown that right back at the other boy, daring him to prove that Loki's nanny would stick with him through anything. 

The afternoon had ended with two children sobbing and screaming and begging their nursemaids to stay. And two house elves in hysterics and covered in socks and bibs and toddlers' shirts, clutching their charges to bony chests and soothing the first existential crises in their masters' young lives.

It definitely wasn't the last time that Missy and Elli had to dry tears and calm down a temper tantrum over the years. And it definitely wasn't the last time that Loki had poked furiously at Stephen's pride only for the other to lash out with a dare that costed both of them.

So when Loki elegantly draped himself across Stephen's lap while the brunette tried to memorize all the oh-so-important dates of the Great Troll Wars, he really should have seen it coming. 

"Loki, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Eyeing the raven-haired boy, he was weary when he caught the mischievous glint in his friend's eye.

Slytherins were said to be clever and cunning. At least by everyone that had gotten sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenckaw, and Gryffindor since the Middle Ages. But as far as Stephen was concerned, they were all just elephants running loose in a porcellain shop - going for what they wanted without heeding risks or hindrances. They were almost like Gryffindors in that regard. Not that Stephen would be caught dead saying that out loud. He may be as unsubtle as they come, but he was still proud of his House.

Slytherins were said to be clever and cunning. But only by those not chosen by Salazar himself. To the eligible crowd dressed in green and silver, a fellow Slytherin was as obvious as a dragon bursting out of Gringotts in broad daylight.

But Stephen was never one for shying away from glaring warning signs and red flags and dragons bursting out Gringotts. And when Loki innocently wondered how long Stephen planned on pining after one Tony Stark... well, what else was he to do than daring Loki in turn to finally make a move on Gryffindor's golden boy, one Thor Odinson. 

"Even if I may be a bit forward in my affections towards Anthony, that is nothing in comparison to how you thirst after Thor in his Quidditch uniform! Now that's just plain embarrassing!" Stephen sniffed haughtily. 

So it was really no wonder that after a few more jibes and dares not only Loki, but also Stephen himself as well as their two other friends were bound by an unbreakable vow to ask their crushes to the Yule Ball. Well, those two just shouldn't have sat with them that very first night in the Great Hall if they wanted to avoid stuff like that. Loki and Stephen agreed that it was Natasha and Bucky's own damn fault they ended up here.

Staring into the crackling flames that were lighting up the Slytherin Common Room, Stephen debated his next move. He had three weeks to win over one Anthony Stark.


	2. Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki

"Scared, Strange?" Smirking, he gracefully slid into the empty seat next to Stephen at the Slytherin table. He was positively giddy this morning, not that he would anyone allow to see it. 

Well, Stephen could possibly see right through him. But to anyone else, Loki was an enigma. And it had better stay that way.

"Too early…" Soft mumbling was all his heckling got him then. Too soon then. It was apparently still that time of day where it would take a few more cups of tea and Tony Stark's arse sashaying over to the Ravenclaw Table for Stephen to function.

Reaching over to pull a jug of pumpkin juice closer to him, he let his gaze wander around the Great Hall unconspciously. His smirk only deepened when he caught sight of one certain blond Gryffindor strutting up to one of the tables in the middle of the hall.

Thick, blond hair was gleaming in the frosty morning sun of a rare, sunny December day. Blue eyes were lighting up the Great Hall and a loud laugh carried over even to where Loki was sitting at the very far end of the Slytherin Table. Broad shoulders pulled at the seams of a school uniform just that side of too tight. The red and gold tie made bronze skin radiate through the sleepy morning gloom still settled over the mass of students.

And soon to be his boyfriend. Sometimes, Loki himself was in awe of the cunning he was able to do.

"You're drooling." Stephen' deep, grumbling voice ripped him out of his musings rather abruptly then. He'd deny any yelping that may or may not have been heard in reaction to this. Furthermore, he'd like to be excluded from any narrative including a teeny-tiny Stinging jinx being sent Stephen's way.

Anyway, all was fair in love and war. At least that's what the Muggles said. If Natasha was to be trusted. Oh who was he kidding. Surely, it was complete and utter bollocks that she fed him there.

But he liked how it sounded so he'd gonna own it.

So if he had to trick his best friend into a stupid bet to have a good enough excuse to go after his own crush, then so be it. Was it 45% cunning and 55% fear of rejection in front of everyone at school that made him set the wholething up? Maybe so. But 45% of cunning was still something. Thor better be worth suffering the other 55%.

The fact that Bucky and Natasha stumbled into it as well was only playing into his cards. Four proud Slytherins falling over each other and making a spectacle out of themselves was three more people taking the attention away from Loki in case it did not work out.

Turning back to watching Thor with eagle eyes, he was just in time for the post owls to drop their deliveries. And to watch the blond Gryffindor fishing a small parcel out of his eggs where Loki's trusted barn owl Hela had dropped it. 

He'd have to make the trek up to the Owlery later today to bribe her with some treats. Because just now she had made it abundantly clear that she would not be roped into his schemes as well. But Hela was a major plot point in this epic romance he was about to enact. So she better get her shit together soon.

Sending a death glare over to where she was picking at Thor's buttered toast, Loki willed her to play nice. And then Thor's booming laugh echoed around the Great Hall once more. A faint blush was staining golden cheeks and a letter was clutched tightly in big hands.

Let the games begin. 

Loki was so going to win this. 

This bet and also Thor's heart.


	3. Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky was a lousy Slytherin.

Bucky was a lousy Slytherin. 

There, he said it. 

All that business about being shrewd and cunning and ambitious and sneaky… it was just plain exhausting. And the other stuff about being loyal and resourceful also didn't help him much in the grand scheme of things. It just got him stuck with human disasters as friends and his brain working feverishly to get them out of trouble and save the idiots' necks again and again and again.

Looking at you, Loki. And you, Stephen. Also you, Natasha. No need to hide. Bucky knew what she had been up to the last few months when no one could get a hold of her for hours. Bucky knew and he was just waiting for it to blow up in her face - pun intended - and for her to come running for good, ol' Bucky to clean up her mess.

Was it too much to ask for just one school year where the other three would stick to rules for once and made do with normal wizarding teenager problems? 

Take Bucky himself for example. He's been secretly pining for a cute Gryffindor with all the angst-ridden and age-appropriate emotional ups and downs of a first crush. Keywords being 'secretly' and 'pining'. No one, not even Nat, knew about it and he had planned on keeping it that way until he was done with school. Done with school and with being always vigilant for a shock of blond hair and bright blue eyes when traversing the corridors. Always hoping to catch a glimpse of shoulders that had been filling out considerably since their Fifth year.

But apparently it was indeed to much to ask for a quiet last year at Hogwarts. And now he was bound by an Unbreakable Vow to ask Steve Rogers to the Yule Ball. Merlin knows what he had ever done to deserve that.

So Bucky was a lousy Slytherin.

And when Stephen came wandering into the Potions classroom and headed straight for his place next to him, Bucky was scared of what the consternated look on the other boy's face promised.

"Loki got a head start. He's made his first move at breakfast. I'll be damned if he's planned for us to be set up like this." Eyebrows furrowing even more, Stephen poked his wand into the softly glowing embers below their cauldron.

The flickering light of flames licking up in the dimness of the dungeons let ominous shadows dance across the boy's prominent face. A shudder raced down Bucky's back at the sight. 

Who even had decided that Slytherins had to feel right at home in the dungeons? It was cold, damp, and dark. And he did not like it. (Okay. That was a lie. He loved the view of the bottom of the Great Lake you had from their Common Room. And he liked to snuggle into piles of pillows and blankets and that was just way more fun when your room was just this side of cool.)

"Do you think that Loki set us up with this challenge?" Turning his glare onto Bucky, Stephen finally stopped poking into the small, roaring fire. 

The classroom was filling up around them with the rest of the Slytherins that had elected the advanced Potions class and the handful of Ravenclaws also aiming for a N.E.W.T. 

Loki was entering the dungeon then - accompanied by Natasha and a smirk even broader than on a normal day. Bucky turned to Stephen once more, head tilted and lips quirked.

"You still have to ask? After all this time?" It made Bucky smile. 

Everyone was always so quick to judge and only see the negative aspects to the famous Slytherin traits. But not many outside of the house and close family and friends got to see the other parts that made them who they were. And being loyal to a fault was one of these. 

"He totally set us up, probably has planned the whole harebrained scheme over summer break." Watching the boy in question make his way over to them, self-assured smirk growing with every step, Bucky couldn't help an answering smirk of his own. "But a headstart means shit and we all know it."

So Bucky may be a lousy Slytherin. 

But he was not a quitter. And if pulling every scrap of ambition inside his tired soul together could make Loki lose his cool for once… then Bucky was going to amp up the Slytherin in him big time for this one.


	4. Stephen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally I had planned for the fic to be done by Christmas... but as that's just a week away, I suck at time management, and I got so many ideas for it still... it's not gonna be done by the 25th... you have been warned :D

"But a headstart means shit and we all know it." 

Bucky was indeed right. Smirking as well, Stephen settled more comfortably into his chair. Loki wanted to make a race out of it, then a race he should get. The Yule Ball was on the 22nd, Sunday evening before they were set to return home for Christmas break. 

So that left him two weeks to corner Anthony and somehow persuade the boy to be his date for the Ball. And two weeks to work up the guts to actually do so. A little bit of that famous Gryffindor courage wouldn't hurt for once about now. 

Or maybe some liquid luck… he should ask their Potions professor about that after class. He was one of Professor Malfoy's favourites after all, a drop or two shouldn't be too big of a problem. His husband was after all intimately aware with Felix Felicis, if rumours were to be believed.

His smirk only intensified at that. With a plan made, he finally turned his attention to the front of the classroom where the man in question was about to begin the lecture, when the heavy door to the dungeon opened once more.

And in rushed Stephen's object of affection. Not that he would call him that to anyone's face. But he couldn't help but smile fondly at the picture of Tony Stark stumbling into the classroom, robes hanging haphazardly off his shoulders and hair dishevelled as if an owl had tried to build a nest out of the dark tresses. His left cheek was still sporting an impressive pillow crease and brown eyes were hazy with dreams, even while under the pressure of Draco Malfoy's patented, soul-searing glare for stragglers. They were also slightly to alarmingly bloodshot.

"Mister Stark, how kind of you to grace us with your presence on this fine day," Professor Malfoy drawled as Tony slinked by the man's desk and towards his cauldron in the front row of the class. "5 points from Ravenclaw for tardiness, again." 

"Wouldn't miss your class for anything, Professor Malfoy!" Even dead on his feet, Anthony Stark was nothing if not charming as all hell. Stephen would never get enough of that cheeky grin the other boy was sporting then.

He was fighting down a sappy smile. All that sass and charme compressed into that short and compact body had him smitten. Smitten, but also worried. He had spent the last few years watching Anthony. 

And a shuffling gait and dark shadows underneath dark brown eyes was never a good sign. Paired with a barely noticeable strain in his grin and a tightness in his shoulders, Stephen was officially worried. Because no matter what happy face Anthony was putting on for the world to see, the Slytherin had become attuned to the other boy's moods. That particular look of having just rolled out of bed while oozing tiredness was a blaring alarm signal.

Not just for Stephen apparently. Tony's Potions partner Rhodey cast a concerned gaze over to the raven haired boy that got only waved away. So nothing serious then. At least nothing more worrisome than the usual insomnia. 

Stephen wanted to wrap him up in the fluffy blanket that his old nanny Missy made for him last Christmas. Then he would snuggle him good and read some Troll Wars Trivia to him. If that didn't put him to sleep, Stephen didn't know what would. 

The sappy smile was a permanent fixture on his face now. 

  
☆☆☆

  
Anthony let himself fall heavily into his chair then and immediately slumped over his desk, just inches away from the crackling flames below the cauldron. Cushioning his head on his folded arms, his head lolled to the side.

Tired eyes blinked through the dimness of the dungeons until they landed on the Slytherin sitting in the back, gaze steadily trained on the Ravenclaw. The manic grin beaming back to him across the dungeon made a visible shudder race down the boy's back. He was suddenly awake enough to sit up properly and tune in to Professor Malfoy's lecture.


	5. Natasha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha's turn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments are the best presents ever ♡!

Giggling, she let herself be pulled behind a tapestry on her way to lunch. Not that Natasha would ever be caught confessing to doing something as silly and girly as giggling. But as long as she was infamously known and feared for her wicked Bat-Bogey Hex, no one in their right mind would dare to put her on trial for it. 

The fact that her closest circle of friends included Stephen Strange and Loki Laufeyson quickly silenced the remaining few, even those without any morsel of survival instincts. Stephen had never gotten the hang of socially acceptable behaviour - and how could you really grasp that while growing up in the Orkneys and your only contact to your peer group being Loki. Loki who could be considered slightly crazy on a good day and completely deranged on a bad one. 

And anyway, her giggling was cut short the same moment that the tapestry fell back into place, shrouding the hidden passageway she had found herself in into semi-darkness.

"Hello, my dear!" A deep, husky voice was whispering into Natasha's ear from behind her and she spun around quickly. 

With a quick swish from her wand and an elegant but strong hand placed onto a firm chest, she had the boy pinned against the wall. A quick-silver smile slithered across her ruby painted lips before she pressed them against the other one's. Crowding close to the one who had pulled her into their secret hiding spot, she wrapped her arms around shoulders that had been filling out nicely over the last year. 

She would probably never get enough of this: that strong body against hers, pushing against her and letting her push back, a wild back and forth just like a tidal wave. Soft lips and even softer sighs against her mouth. An addicting taste on the tip of her tongue. The soft scratch of stubble against her cheeks and chin. Big hands craddling her hips securely, lovingly.

She would never let this go voluntarily.

"Clint!" With a soft smack that resounded in the empty stairwell, they finally separated. Stepping even closer still, she pressed them together from chest to toe. 

His arms, bulging subtly with muscles from years of handling Bludgers, wound around her back and pulled her in even closer still.

"Not to kill the mood or anything, but what in Merlin's name are you little lunatics up to again?" Clint's brows were adorably furrowed as he looked down at where she was busy burrowing into his chest. 

A yellow plaster was stuck to the bridge of his nose where just yesterday there had been unblemished skin. With a whispered _Episkey_, the plaster fluttered away as it wasn't needed anymore. It earned her a kiss to the forehead before Clint frowned at her once more.

Natasha blinked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. 

"Don't give me that look, Nat, I know you." He smirked down at her then, entirey unbecoming of an Hufflepuff. Was this love?

Pushing out her bottom lip a little more and incrimentally inclining her head towards him, she just kept staring at him and projecting an innocent air around her.

"You're in an awefully good mood, Bucky looked miserable during Care for Magical Creatures just now, and the Terrible Two are due for a new harebrained fiasco any day now. You're stirring something up, aren't you?" 

Natasha couldn't help but beam up at him then. He knew her, knew _them_, so well already. And accepted it, even embraced it.

"All in due time, love!"


	6. Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's got a sixth sense for trouble.

"The snakes are up to something." Apropos nothing, Tony slid into the chair next to a redheaded girl with the customary blue and silver tie of Ravenclaw. 

His own tie was still loosely slung around his shoulders and he didn't even protest when the girl reached over and tied it with deft fingers. At this point, he had completely forgotten that he hadn't bothered to put it on correctly when he had stumbled out of the dorms this morning.

And then Stephen fucking Strange had smiled at him during Potions. Full-on smiled his manic maniac smile with crinkling eyes and slight blush and everything. Tony swore he had been nanoseconds away from an heart attack then.

The tie was the least of his worries now.

"And what's got you clued in this time?" Eyeing him dubiously, Pepper was visibly readying herself to talk him down from whatever fit he was about to throw himself into. So maybe he was a little overly cautious ("Paranoid, the word you're looking for is paranoid." He could hear Pepper scolding him already.) when it came to the House of Slytherin, especially the Terrible Two.

"Strange smiled at me. Strangely I might add." He stared at her beseechingly, willing Pepper to understand the whole spectrum of problems that was about to knock on Tony's door any moment now. Couldn't she see it, too?

"And…?" Her attention was slowly waning and Tony could see it clearly by her body slowly turning back to the front of the class, intelligent eyes dimming a bit, and fingers inching slowly towards her quill. 

Time to bring out the big guns and make her panic with him.

"Happily! He smiled at me happily!" He slapped his hands on the desk before him, making Pepper jump in her seat. "Like he was pleased to see me! The arsehole was blushing, I'm telling you!"

Pepper smiled indulgently at him then: "Did he now? Then congratulations are in order, I take it?" 

Reaching over, she patted his cheek softly. Tony felt slightly patronized and a whole lot confused.

"What?"

"What." 

"What do you mean by congratulations, Pep?" He leaned closer, staring into her eyes. Was she under a spell or a curse or why couldn't she understand the gravity of this occurence?

Another pat to his cheek and an even fonder smile was all he got for his troubles. 

"All I'm saying is that your hard work of stalking Stephen across the whole school for two years has finally paid off! He's noticed you now, that's what you wanted, right?" Giggling, she turned fully around to face the front of the class, where Professor Lovegood was setting up a marionette for today's history session. 

"What? I didn't…! Why would I even?!" Tony sputtered, eyes wide open like a deer caught in headlights. 

But Pepper was still smiling, stubbornly facing away from him.

Crossing his arms in front of him and slumping down in his chair, Tony settled in to sulk for the next hour. That would show her and make her see her faulted logic. Ravenclaws were supposed to be clever and sharp. Why would Pepper start being obtuse now of all times? 

He'd do a spell detection test on her later, just to be sure. One of the brightest yound minds of their generation couldn't possibly miss the gravity of Stephen Strange smiling at Tony Stark.

"But Strange's still strange!" There. At least he had the last word on that for now.


End file.
